Purifier for boiler-water.



PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903.

I. V. HOLMES.

PURIFIER FOR- BOILER WATER.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 30. 1902.'

N0 MODEL.

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are. 743,385.

UNITED STATES fiatented November 3, 1903.

ISAAC v. HOLMES, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PU RIF IER FOR BOILER-WATER.

$PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,385, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed October 30, 1902. erial No. 129,420. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC V. HOLMEs,a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Chicago, in the countyoi' Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Purifiers for Boiler-Water, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to steam-generating apparatus; and its objects are to preserve the life and maintain the efficiency of a boiler.

To these ends it consists in means for purifying boiler-water and causing a forced circulation of water within a boiler, in means whereby the amount of water purged may be regulated audits circulation within the boiler controlled,in means whereby the water within the boiler and not transformed into steam may be purged and repurged continuously; and it further consists in the features of construction and combination hereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claims hereto annexed.

The accompanying drawing, wherein like reference-letters indicate the same or corresponding parts, is in part a vertical sectional and in part a plan view.

Impurities are held in solution in cold water by reason of the gases and fixed air therein. When the water is sufficiently heated, the air and gases are freed therefrom, and the impurities then become in suspension. These and the other impurities which were in suspension in the cold water will either sink therein or rise toward its surface, accordingly as they are of greater or of less specific gravity than the water. When this action takes place within a boiler, if the impurities are not removed therefrom before they can find lodgment on the walls thereof they will form mud or scale, or both, and according to their nature, thickness, and location within the boiler will impair its efficiency and shorten its life. When the above-described action takes place Within a feed-water heater, the impurities are in all forms of devicesheretofore known to the art carried with the water from the heater to the boiler, in which latter they will be deposited in the form of mud or scale, or both, as they would if the action first took place within the boiler, as hereinbefore described. To maintain the efficiency and to preserve the life of a boiler, thereby rendering it possible to obtain the best results from the use thereof, it is essential that the water within the boiler shall be purged of all mud or scale-forming impurities, that itshall have a positive forced circulation, and that the supply of water to and its circulation within the boiler shall be controllable.

In a separate application herefrom, filed si multaneouslyherewith and seriallynumbered 129,421, Ihave shown, described, and claimed an apparatus adapted to accomplish each and all of the above-stated requirements. Hence I do not claim herein the matter claimed in said application; but in order to even more effectually accomplish the objects of this present invention I have provided additional means whereby the water fed to the boiler shall be purged before reaching the same.

Referring to the drawing, A is a boiler; B, a dish or skimmer; G, a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the water at or approximate to the surface W thereof within the. boiler and at its other end with the pipe connection J in manner substantially as shown in the drawing; D, a centrifugal separator, which separator is adapted (in the manner hereinafter more fully described) to eliminate suspended impurities from water passing through it whether said impurities be of greater or of less specific gravity than the water; d, a passage for the exit of purged water from the separator, communicating at one end with the exit end of the drum of the separator and at its other end with the wormpump E; F, a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the exit end of the pump and at its other end with the feed-water-receiving space G within the boiler; H, a pump. of any suitable kind; h, a pipe communicating with the exit end of the pump H and with the feed-water heater 1, which heater may be of any desired kind; J, a pipe 'connection communicating at one end of its ends with the water-delivery end of the feed-water heater I and at its other end with the receiving end of the separator D K, apipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the steam space or dome of the boiler and at its other end communicating with and projecting into the pipe connection J in mannor substantially as shown in the drawing,

which end terminates in a steam-jet or conical member k, adapted to form a steam-jet.

Assuming that the various pipe connections mentioned are open to their respective points of communication, that the pump H is operating to deliver to and expel from the feed-water heater I five thousand pounds of water per hour, that said heater is sufficiently heating that amount of water in the time stated, that the boiler is filled with purged water to the level W, (shownin dotted lines in the drawing,) and that the electric motor 61 which revolubly controls the drum (1 of the separator D, is revolving at a speed of, say, one thousand revolutions per minute, the operation of this form of my device is as follows: Water from the heater passes through the pipe connection J to the receiving end of the centrifugal separator D, thence to the revolving drum d thereof, whence, rid of its contained impurities, it will pass through the passage (2 to the pump E, which will thereafter discharge it through the pipe connection F into the feed-Water-receiving space G within the boiler, where it will mingle with the water therein. It will be seen that in this manner the feed-water is purified before being delivered to the boiler. The capacity of the pump E we will assume to be seven thousand five hundred pounds of water per hour. Hence, it will be seen, it has a capacity of two thousand five hundred pounds water per hour in excess of the capacity of the pump H. The result of the operation of the pump E is therefore to create a suction of two thousand five hundred pounds water per hour through the pipe connection 0, thence through the pipe connection J to the receiving end of the drum d of the separator, whence it is drawn by the pump and delivered to the water-receiving space G within the boiler. In passing through the separator it is of course purged in the same manner as the water proceeding from the water heater. Thus it will be seen that as the water within the boiler was or had been purged previously to its being drawn through the pipe connection 0 from the boiler itis again purged, and this purging and repurging will continue as long as the controlling members are free to operate. The drawing off of the surface water of the Water within the boiler and the returning of it (purged) to the feed-water-receiving space within the boiler creates a positive forced circulation of the water within the boiler. This forced circulation and the quantity of water purged may be increased or diminished byincreasing or diminishing the speed of the motor and of the pump E or by suitably adjusting the valves c,f, andj,which respectively control the passage of water through the pipe connections (1, F, and J, or by regulating both the speed of the motor and the pumps E H and adjusting said valves. The passage of steam from the boiler through the pipe K may be controlled by the valve is. When this valve is open, steam is projected from the nozzle 70 into the pipe connection J. The impact of the steam with the water from the heater raises the temperature of the latter to the temperature of the water within the boiler and of the water proceeding from the boiler through the pipe connection C, with which water it commingles at the point of communication j of the pipe connections J O. The water being so heated, the impurities will be brought into suspension, it will be seen, before the water is delivered to the separator,and in addition thereto the water delivered to the boiler will have the same or substantially the same temperature as that in the boiler. Hence no diminution of the temperature of the boilerwater results from the incoming of the feed water, while the purity of the water is preserved.

In the drawing I have illustrated one form of centrifugal device which may be employed to effect the purging of water from its suspended impurities whether they be of less or greater specific gravity than the water. Said device is specifically claimed, shown, and described in the United States Letters Patent No. 702,795, granted to me therefor on the 17th day of June, A. D. 1902. Briefly describing said apparatus and its operation, D is the device as a whole; (1, a drum; d, partitions radially disposed. within the drum and secured to the outer wall and to the hub (1 thereof; d an annular member revoluble with the drum and secured to the partitions; d an outlet for impurities of greater specific gravity than is the water communicating with the discharge-passage d d, an outlet for purged water communicating at one of its ends with the discharge end of the drum and at its other end with the non-revoluble bowl-shaped chamber d which chamber communicates with the Worm-pump E; d fixed wings within the chamber (1 d d, concentricoutletpassages for the discharge of impurities of less specific gravity than is the water; 05 an electric motor. The pump E, member d, partitions d, and drum (1 are secured one to another and to the motor (1 by which they are revolubly controlled and rotate upon the ball-bearings cl. Assuming the revoluble parts referred to to be revolving at a sufficiently high rate of speed and water containing impurities of both greater and less specific gravity than it possesses to be entering the separator, the said heavier impurities will be centrifugally moved towardthe wall of the drum, where they will settle and be discharged from the bottom of the drum through the outlet 01 and the discharge-passage d while the said lighter impurities will be centrifugally moved toward the center of the drum, whence they will enter the pipe d through the apertures d following which they maybe discharged therefrom. The liquid thus freed from the heavier impurities upon the one side and the lighter impurities upon the other is rendered substantially pure between said points. Said purged water by Virtue of its specific gravity, the pressure IOC IIC

caused by water entering the drum, and the positive action of the pump E will pass through the annular outlet-passage d (formed by the hub and the inner wall of the annular member d into the fixed chamber (1 where its rotary motion will be arrested by the fixed wings d Thence it will enter the pump and be discharged therefrom through the pipe F to the water-receiving space G within the boiler. The rotary motion of the purified water being, as described, suddenly arrested by the fixed wings d upon its entering the chamber d foam or froth will thereby be created upon it, which froth and extraneous matters that may possibly not have been discharged through the outlets d 61 may be discharged through the pipe d ,which com municates at one of its ends with said chamber. Again referring to the drawings, d d are valves respectively controlling the passages d d; c, a flared end of the pipe connection 0.

The device of my invention is applicable to stationary, marine, locomotive, or to whatsoever kind or form of boiler.

The advantages of using purged water in boilers are too obvious to need explanation. The advantages of creating a forced circulation are many, among which the following may be stated: steam can be gotten up in much quicker time than were the water within the boiler not given a forced circulation, and particles of extraneous matters of greater specific gravity than the Water within the boiler are kept in constant movement toward the surface of said Water, where they may be drawn 01f into the separator and eliminated.

It is obvious that any suitable centrifugal device which will operate under positive pressure to effectively eliminate impurities suspended in water may be employed instead of that hereinbefore described; that there may be as many of these devices as desired; that any form of pump adapted to draw the purged water from the drum of the separator and deliver it to the boiler may be employed; that said pump need not be connected to nor operated bythe drum-revolving means; that instead of an electric motor any suitable drum-revolving means may be employed, as an engine and a pulley controlled by a belt or rope or gears operated by said engine or a turbine-motor; that the pipe 0 may communicate with the pipe J and with the boiler at any suitable point; that the pipe 0 may or may not be provided with a flared end 0, and that the pipe F may communicate with the discharge end of the separator and with the water-receivin g space of the boiler at any suitable point.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a steam-generating apparatus, the combination of a boiler, a centrifugal separator provided with means for the discharge therefrom of purged water and means for the continuous and separate discharge of the heavy and light impurities contained in the Water, a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with a feed-water heater and at its other end with the receiving end of the separator, a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the surface water in the boiler and at its other end with the lastmentioned pipe connection, a, pump control- ,ling the discharge of purged water from the separator, and a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the discharge end of the pump and at its other end with the water-receiving space within the boiler, substantially as described.

2. In a steam-generating apparatus, the combination of a boiler, a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the surface water within the boiler and at its other end with a pipe connection communicating with the feed-water heater, a pipe connection communicating with the water-receiving space Within the boiler, and mechanical forced-circulation means communicatingwith all of said pipe connections, substantially as described.

3. In a steam-generating apparatus, the combination of a boiler, a pipe connection communicating with the water receiving space within the boiler, a pipe connection communicating with the surface water within the boiler, a pipe connection communicating with the feed-water heater and with said lastmentioned pipe connection, mechanical water-purging means communicating with said second-mentioned pipe connection, and mechanical forced-circulation means communicating with the purging means and with said first mentioned pipe connection, substantially as described. l

4. In a steam-generating apparatus, the combination of a boiler, a centrifugal separator provided with means for the discharge therefrom of purged water and means for the continuous and separate discharge of the heavy and the light impurities contained in the water, a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with a' feed-water heater and at its other end with the receiving end of the separator, a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the surface water in the boiler and at its other end with the last-mentioned pipe connection, a pump controlling the discharge of purged water from the separator, a pipe extending from the steam-space of the boiler to the pipe first mentioned and discharging steam into the same through a contracted nozzle, and a pipe connection communicating at one of its ends with the discharge end of the pump and at its other end with the water-receiving space within the boiler, substantially as described.

ISAAC V. HOLMES.

Witnesses:

CHARLES S. HILL, LYSANDER HILL. 

